Legalization of marijauna

Adults just a few miles away in Canada also will be able to legally buy and smoke marijuana for pleasure starting in October. But between them stands the U.

Stop pretending marijuana is harmless The consensus among several top state officials — who Legalization of marijauna that their job is Legalization of marijauna carry out the will of the voters rather than mull whether their constituents made the right choice — is that there have been no widely felt negative effects on the state since marijuana became legal, and a crop of retail stores, cultivation facilities, and manufacturers sprung up from Aurora to Telluride.

But police say they struggle to enforce a patchwork of laws covering marijuana, including drugged driving. Officials fret about the industry becoming like big tobacco, dodging regulation and luring users with slick advertising. And this state, long a leader in cannabis use, has the highest youth rate of marijuana use in the nation, according to the most recent data available from a federal drug-use survey.

Advertisement Colorado voters approved a constitutional amendment in November legalizing the sale of recreational marijuana, which began in The drug is heavily regulated.

Each plant for sale must be tagged with a radio frequency identification chip, from an early stage of its life to sale, to help the state track it. Marijuana, both in plant form and infused in products, is required to be tested for potency and contaminants, and sold in child-resistant containers.

Bob Pearson for The Boston Globe Matthew Benton weighs and packages marijuana buds for sale at their retail counters at the Medicine Man marijuana dispensary in Denver. Tourists and locals alike can buy recreational marijuana as long as they are at least 21 and can possess up to 1 ounce.

Everything seems to be working pretty well. The poll found 53 percent believe legalizing marijuana has been good for the state, while 39 percent believe it has been bad. But he noted sporadic reports of impaired driving and people getting violently ill from ingesting too much marijuana in edibles, such as candy bars.

All marijuana, including medical, is subject to standard state and local sales tax in Colorado. But recreational marijuana is also subject to an additional 10 percent special state tax, along with additional local marijuana taxes.

Legalization

US Federal Laws U. S federal laws on Marijuana Although marijuana may be legal in some states for both recreation and medical usethere are laws that govern its usage.

For producers, the tax picture is among the many complexities of running a marijuana business. Medicine Man has a 40 percent profit margin, she said. But her company struggles with what she estimates to be an effective tax rate of nearly 50 percent, as well as having to deal almost exclusively in cash.

Because marijuana remains illegal under federal law, access to banking services is severely restricted. Yet law enforcement officials offer a more negative, chaotic view. They paint a picture of a quickly evolving array of laws, regulations, and ordinances that outpace their enforcement tools for related issues, such as drugged driving.

Bob Pearson for The Boston Globe Young marijuana plants were tagged with the genetic history of each plant at the Medicine Man marijuana dispensary in Denver. Jackson, who sounded beleaguered in an interview, said a fallacy of legalization is that it would give law enforcement time back to focus on more serious, complicated criminal issues and bigger drug problems.

Indeed, the most grinding concerns and the biggest question marks focus on kids and young adults.

Legality of cannabis by U.S. jurisdiction - Wikipedia

But the effects of legalization on children remain effectively unknown with about two years of experience and lagging statistics. Opponents of legalization point to a federal drug survey that estimates Colorado had the highest level of any state of to year-olds reporting marijuana use in the last 30 days for And federal statisticians say the findings are not sufficient to draw conclusions about changes in youth marijuana use patterns as a result of legalization.

Those that were using before are still using now, among youths and adults. They worry that the burgeoning marijuana industry, like alcohol and tobacco before it, could eventually use its profits to gain clout and subvert attempts at regulation. Jeffrey Zinsmeister, executive vice president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, a national nonprofit group cofounded by former US representative Patrick Kennedy that opposes legalization and commercialization of marijuana, said there have been several red flags.

But they emphasize the broader question of whether or not legalization ends up a success will probably take five or 10 years to answer fully.

Joshua Miller can be reached at joshua. Click here to subscribe to his weekday e-mail update on politics.A congressional committee looking at drug-impaired driving repeatedly turned to the question of marijuana legalization and its potential impact on U.S.

roadways on Wednesday. Several witnesses took questions from members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee on ways to reduce drug-impaired driving, but the experts generally agreed that it’s difficult to identify a direct [ ].

Pot legalization committee in the state of Maine has approved a 10% retail tax on marijuana for recreational use. The bill was approved late February. Buyers will receive a . Marijuana (cannabis) is a green, brown or gray mixture of dried, shredded leaves, stems, seeds and flowers of the hemp plant Cannabis sativa.

Marijuana is used as a psychoactive (i.e. mind altering) recreational drug, for certain medical ailments and for religious and spiritual purposes. The Legalization of Marijuana in Colorado: The Impact Vol.

That’s what one CNN commentator said happened last month when, on June 26, Oklahoma adopted medical marijuana through a. Sep 26, · News about marijuana and medical marijuana, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.